For children’s author Paula LaRue, writing is all about reading.

The mission of the retired educator and Milford resident is to “get kids reading and keep them reading.”

Fans enjoying LaRue’s “Scary Shivers” series of adventure mysteries may consider it a mission accomplished. Three books have been published and a fourth is scheduled for release in 2025.

One installment — “The Weeping House” — won first place for Juvenile Mystery and Juvenile Fantasy & Magic at the 2024 national BookFest Awards.

The latest book — “The Legend of the Serpent Witch” — was released just ahead of Halloween.

Written for middle school children, LaRue’s books follow the adventures of Ollie and two friends who encounter an array of creatures, including ghosts, witches, snakes, vampires, thieves and scary creatures. Throughout, the friends support each other to face and conquer their fears and overcome terrifying surprises.

LaRue said she employs a fast-paced style similar to novelist R.L. Stine, author of the best-selling “Goosebumps” novel series. Stine’s work has spawned video games and two feature films, and he has been described as the “Stephen King” of children’s literature.

LaRue — who writes under the pen name F.P. LaRue — said her works reflect her childhood passion for reading and her long-held fascination with scary and mysterious horror tales and movies.

“I’ve always enjoyed spooky things,” she said. Among her favorites is “Dark Shadows,” a gothic fantasy popular on television in the 1960s and into the ‘70s, and in a 2012 movie directed by Tim Burton, famous for fantasy films and gothic horror.

“I like all that goes with ghosts and mummies, even as an adult. I still do. We are all kids at heart.”

Growing up in Trenton, LaRue said her parents emphasized reading. As a child, LaRue was a familiar face at the Trenton Veterans Memorial Library. Raised in a family of four children, her father was a maintenance staffer at McLouth Steel Corp. and her mother was a kitchen worker at Trenton’s Riverside Hospital. LaRue graduated from Trenton High School in 1975.

“We were a family of readers,” she said. “My parents always encouraged me to read and that it was important. Kids watch what their parents do and what they value.”

A criminal justice graduate of Eastern Michigan University with a master’s degree in security administration from the University of Detroit, she specialized in security and safety methods and techniques. More recently, she retired as dean of academic affairs at ITT Technical Institute near Flint.

After retiring several years ago, she said, her husband — a digital and technology specialist — “bought an app during COVID” to introduce her to writing as a pastime.

“I enjoyed it and found it easy to follow and do,” she said.

Her foray into fiction was not her first into writing, however. Previously, she drew upon her experience in security to write a nonfiction book (“Stalking: Surviving the Hidden Terror”) about methods for handling and avoiding stalking and stalkers.

In recent years, her interest in childhood reading also produced an advisory article, “Ten Tips to Get Children Reading More.” Among those:

• Create a dedicated reading space

• Make family visits to libraries and bookstores

• Set and example, be positive and patient

• Have them write their own stories

The 10 tips and more about LaRue’s children’s novels — “The Weeping House,” “The Legend of the Serpent Witch” and “The Curse of Shadow Park” — are available at fplarue.com.

By day, Rob Whaley is a General Motors engineer, working in plants and tech facilities to promote methods and means for greater productivity and efficiency.

But in his off hours, Whaley embraces a more chaotic, less predictable world of “adrenaline-pumping” bravado, machismo and guy stuff.

Either way, the Rochester author is on the lookout for ideas, people and circumstances to adapt and fictionalize for his “Macho Man” stories and books.

His characters and settings often are locally rooted: Oakland County golfers, deer hunters, homeowners who go over the top to decorate for Christmas holidays and others who escalate backyard grilling to fierce showdowns. From seemingly everyday episodes, Whaley spins tales and adventures with humor, heart and action — sometimes provoking a knowing nod or chuckle from readers.

“So, grab a cold one and buckle up for a rollercoaster ride through the world of machismo like never before,” Whaley promises in promoting “The Macho Man Chronicles.”

It’s all fiction, he says. After all, he takes care to change names and locations. This first book includes 10 chapters and a “bonus” chapter. A second book is in the works, he said.

“It is hard work, but I enjoy it,” Whaley said about his evolving pursuit of writing fiction. “My wife thinks it’s whacky, but she supports it.”

For many authors, writing is a torturous process.

Whaley, 59, said he brings some of his work skills to the task, drawing on his education as an electrical engineer with experience at Motorola, GM and his service aboard Navy nuclear submarines. Add to that his passion for mountain biking and gravel biking.

On the job, Whaley’s duties have included leadership assignments to help organizations show continuous improvement through globally recognized Six Sigma methods and leveraging data analytics to “collect, wrangle and storytell with data.”

Some of those practices have found their way into his writing habits.

“To get it done, I need to structure it like I do my work,” he said. “It’s a process for a project plan.”

He traces the idea for capturing the macho world through fictionalized storytelling to his father, now retired after three decades as a GM millwright in an Indiana transmission plant. From time to time, their father-son conversations while Whaley was growing up in southern Indiana turned to testosterone-pumping activities such as hunting, rifles, bow hunting, fishing and camping. Along the way, they shared stories about friends and acquaintances and their outdoor experiences.

Eventually, the idea took shape to gather those observations into a collection of stories.

“It’s funny,” Whaley said. “My dad came up with calling it ‘The Macho Man Chronicles.’”

Whaley’s knack for precision led him to earn certification at the Naval Nuclear Power School and to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering technology from Purdue University. He earned a master’s degree in business administration from North Central College in Napierville, Illinois.

After eight years in Chicago with Motorola, he joined GM in 2015 and made his home in Oakland County, with his wife, Kristin. They have four children, including a graduate of Michigan State University. Others are students at MSU, Kettering University in Flint and Oakland University.

Michigan has proven a great place to live and an ideal setting for some of his stories, Whaley said.

“From my perspective, it is the abundance of outdoor recreational opportunities like fishing, hunting, skiing, mountain biking and golf. The landscape is beautiful and lake-abundant. We have big water on both sides and the UP. And the folks who enjoy these things are rich characters. As I experience these outdoor activities that I love with all these rich characters, it provides endless opportunity to imagine and create.”

“The Macho Man Chronicles” is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and through a Substack subscription at robwhaley@substack.com.

They say sharing is caring.

For author Kevin Alan Lamb, sharing through writing is an essential, powerful experience.

Lamb, a native of West Bloomfield and a resident of Oxford, follows his advice in his new, third book, “Love is in the Details: A Hopeful Journey in Grief.”

On one level, the book is described as a tribute to his mother, who died last year. More deeply, the book is intended as an assist to those who experience the loss of a loved one.

For Lamb, sharing his journey through loss is something he knows works for him and he hopes benefits others.

“Since each of us will lose those we love dearly, it feels like it’s time we better learn to nurture ourselves in grief so we may more readily comfort and guide others in their time of need,” said Lamb, an author, poet, journalist and talent manager. “Thunder, lightning and hard rains will have their way with each of us, but that doesn’t mean we have to navigate these storms like we are alone.”

Instead, readers should “embrace the beautiful journey of self-love, healing, alignment and empowerment.”

Lamb, 39, said he learned much in dealing with loss after the death of his mother, “Mamyte,” who was “my best friend.” At 71, she died the Friday before Mother’s Day in 2013 after battling leukemia and a double lung transplant.

After what he described as the “busyness” of end-of-life rituals — a funeral, writing an obituary and preparing a eulogy — he faced “the heaviness” of ongoing grief.

Writing, he determined, was helpful.

“We are given gifts for a reason,” he said in an interview. “I knew I could make a positive difference in people’s lives. I write to help people feel better. I knew my way forward was writing this book. When I write, I am connected to her.”

In describing his book, Lamb said: “The ones you’ve lost, love and grieve are not gone. … Your methods for accessing them have simply changed.”

A choice to be made, Lamb said, is to “look for and recognize their soul in all the places which bring you the greatest joy.”

Lamb’s book touches on some themes of his two previous books — “Your Daily Guide to Shine” and “The Dying Romantic.” In each, Lamb encourages readers to appreciate blessings and their personal value.

The promise of brighter days is evident in the cover and back of “Love is in the Details.” The front cover shows an ominous thunderstorm, while the back displays a warm sunrise. Grief, he said, “doesn’t stop” but it’s not the end.

“Let it in and find a way to find joy in the journey,” he said.

Lamb’s personal passage as an author dates to his youth when he managed dual passions for writing and baseball. A stellar career as a West Bloomfield High School pitcher earned him a spot on the team at High Point University in North Carolina. But that ended, he said, with a damaged rotator cup. He earned an undergraduate degree in communications and philosophy from High Point and a graduate’s degree in communications and organizational leadership from Gonzaga University in Washington.

As a writer, he has covered sports and music and has now broadened his portfolio by becoming a booking agent and establishing his boutique company, This is a Good Sound.

“Love is in the Details” is available in paperback for $16.99 from Amazon or on Kindle for $5.99.